The Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) at Portland State University (PSU) proposes to establish a Social Work Research Development Center (SWRDC) within its research division, the Regional Research Institute (RRI). The SWRDC would conduct research in two core areas (1) the organization of consumer-oriented mental health systems serving adults with major mental illness and children with serious emotional disorders and (2) research on enhancing the empowerment and coping of consumers and family members. Five research pilot projects are proposed for the two areas. Study teams consisting of faculty, Ph.D. students, and Center staff will be formed in each core research area and will be lead by a senior faculty researcher. A three-level faculty development program will be instituted consisting of an annual series of advanced research workshops open to all faculty and students, a more specific training/consultation series for each core area and individual faculty development plans funded by the SWRDC. A research design/statistical consulting group will be supported by the Center to work with the study teams, pilot project investigators, and other faculty and students wishing to develop research projects. The research itself and the research development activities will focus on both children and adults and cultural competence issues will be addressed for all SWRDC activities. The proposed SWRDC will formalize and enhance existing relationships with other agencies and academic units, especially the Oregon Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Services (ODMHDDS), Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Multnomah County mental health programs, and local mental health agencies. The SWRDC will take advantage of the major Oregon reforms in healthcare and welfare for its research program. The Center will develop researchers who either have not been involved in mental health or who have been involved in some aspects of mental health research but who have not received an R01-type grant, and will recruit and train Ph.D. students in mental health research Building on the current research of the GSSW (including 2 R18, 1 R01, and 2 R24 research grants), the SWRDC will create the infrastructure necessary to move the research program to a more rigorous level resulting in the development of a series of R01 grant applications in the core research areas.